d a moment later_ HAY _comes in.

Lincoln:_ Go to General Scott. Ask him to come to me at once.

_Hay_: Yes, sir.

_He goes_.

THE CURTAIN FALLS.

_The two Chroniclers_: You who have gone gathering
Cornflowers and meadowsweet,
Heard the hazels glancing down
On September eves,
Seen the homeward rooks on wing
Over fields of golden wheat,
And the silver cups that crown
Water-lily leaves;

You who know the tenderness
Of old men at eve-tide,
Coming from the hedgerows,
Coming from the plough,
And the wandering caress
Of winds upon the woodside,
When the crying yaffle goes
Underneath the bough;

_First Chronicler_: You who mark the flowing
Of sap upon the May-time,
And the waters welling
From the watershed,
You who count the growing
Of harvest and hay-time,
Knowing these the telling
Of your daily bread;

_Second Chronicler_: You who cherish courtesy
With your fellows at your gate,
And about your hearthstone sit
Under love's decrees,
You who know that death will be
Speaking with you soon or late.

_The two together_: Kinsmen, what is
mother-wit
But the light of these?
Knowing these, what is there more
For learning in your little years?
Are not these all gospels bright
Shining on your day?
How then shall your hearts be sore
With envy and her brood of fears,
How forget the words of light
From the mountain-way? ...

Blessed are the merciful....
Does not every threshold seek
Meadows and the flight of birds
For compassion still?
Blessed are the merciful....
Are we pilgrims yet to speak
Out of Olivet the words
Of knowledge and good-will?

_First Chronicler_: Two years of darkness, and this man but grows
Greater in resolution, more constant in compassion.
He goes
The way of dominion in pitiful, high-hearted fashion.

SCENE III.

_Nearly two years later_.

_A small reception room at the White House_. MRS. LINCOLN, _dressed in
a fashion perhaps a little too considered, despairing as she now does
of any sartorial grace in her husband, and acutely conscious that she
must meet this necessity of office alone, is writing. She rings the
bell, and_ SUSAN, _who has taken her promotion more philosophically,
comes in.

Mrs. Lincoln_: Admit any one who calls, Susan. And enquire whether the
President will be in to tea.

_Susan_: Mr. Lincoln has just sent word that he will be in.

_Mrs. Lincoln_: Very well.

SUSAN _is going_.

Susan. _Susan_: Yes, ma'am.

_Mrs. Linc